The city council’s decisive action Monday evening at city hall approving a primary for the at-large races in both the at-large council and school committee contests was what the late President John F. Kennedy might well have called a profile in courage.
By a 9-0 vote, with Councilors Leo McKinnon and Anthony DiPierro absent, the council stood up for what is right and just – for a primary to take place when it is warranted by circumstances set out in the city charter.
There was very little discussion publicly among the councilors regarding the decision to approve the primaries.
Most of the discussions took place before the meeting.
It was during those discussions that a consensus was reached. Then the vote came up and just like that, like with the snap of a finger, the council did what was right.
In last week’s Leader Herald, we called for the council to make the decision to allow the primaries.
We did so in the same spirit of fairness and what is right that the council ultimately acted with.
In the end, as we suggested, saving $55,000 that the mayor would otherwise waste on no show jobs and bloated salaries didn’t add up to doing the right thing for those who have the courage to place their names on the ballot.
The primaries have a natural way of bonding hundreds and thousands of voters and officials here in a joint effort to foster a truer democracy.
There will be police details, and election officials staffing voting places and there will be the excitement of what is actually like a first election that will be followed by the finale in November.
We praise the city council for doing the right thing in this instance.
Tuesday, September 17 will be primary day in Everett.
The city council’s action empowers the political system here. What could be better than that?